


Serendipity

by thingsishouldntbedoing - discontinued (arminoni)



Series: Serendipity!Verse [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, M/M, haha - Freeform, only I don't feel any guilt about them, these are my guilty pleasure ships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2014-01-30
Packaged: 2018-01-10 14:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arminoni/pseuds/thingsishouldntbedoing%20-%20discontinued
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He loved the brightness of her smile, her excitement at learning new things, the way she blossomed with their friends. He loved the color of her freckles and the lighter shade of her hair from hours spent in the sun with her garden. He loved the way she lifted her finger to push her glasses up her nose. </p><p>He was inescapably in love with his best friend. And she had no idea.</p><p>But this was his chance: the first day of a new year. His chance to change everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> **ser·en·dip·i·ty**  
>  ˌserənˈdipitē  
> noun  
> 1\. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

“Mobliiit~” It was a ritual. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get tired of the way her hands fluttered with excitement on their first day of junior year; movements of her hands that echoed those from their first day of their freshman year. Motions that reminded him of Hanji jumping up and down in her cargo shorts and tie-dye dolphin t-shirt with braided pigtails her mother had barely tied her down for… that had been in her marine biologist phase… and he’d loved that phase.

She had grown since then, messy brown hair now long and wrinkled from sleep and barely brushed, wearing jeans and mismatched socks and a NASA t-shirt he’d bought her over the summer. He loved this phase, too.

“I’m sorry! I slept late!” She pounded past him into the kitchen and returned shortly, shoving a bagel into her mouth. Her glasses glinted on her angular face, softening the hard edge of her nose, metallic against her darkly tanned skin and darker freckles. Freckles he was sure no one else noticed, ghosting over the edges of her cheeks.  
  
“Good morning, Moblit,” he smiled at Hanji’s mother, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well don’t you look handsome for you first day of school?”  
  
“I always try to look nice, Mrs. Z--AH!” Hanji slapped a hair tie to his chest, bending down to pull her boots on. “Thank you?” He furrowed his brows.  
  
“We’re going to be late for the bus,” Hanji said as she picked up her bag, “And you’re doing my hair.”  
  
“Why am I…” He looked after her, hopelessness apparent on his face as her mother chuckled behind her hand. “Have a good day, Mrs. Z.”  
  
“You too,” she smiled as he followed Hanji out of the house. And fell in love with her again.

“Okay so tonight: you, me, and The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions. Sound good?” She asked, walking backwards in the milky dawn, voice harsh against the soft shucking of water from sprinkler systems.  
  
“Sure,” he smiled fondly. “Trying to get in as much as you can before the workload increases?” He cocked an eyebrow, watching the colors in her hair filter in the burgeoning sunlight.  
  
“I just think we haven’t watched them in a while,” she grinned.  
  
“You know that’s like twelve hours of movie right? On a Wednesday?”  
  
“Moburrito don’t be dull,” she dismissed, hopping in place as the bus slowed next to the sidewalk.  
  
“I thought that nickname died in elementary school?” He followed her up the stairs, greeting the driver with a smile as his friend hummed her way up between the seats.  
  
“Never! I was just waiting for the right time to bring it back!” She grinned again, braces sparkling with mischief. He wasn’t even sure how braces could sparkle like that, but he _was_ sure that Hanji was capable of making it so.  
  
“You know what I think?” He watched her flop down in a seat and turn her back to him, throwing her backpack into her lap, before sitting next to her with a sigh.  
  
“I always know what you think, Moblit,” she replied with yet another malicious smirk that he was certain existed as a permanent fixture beneath her glasses. “You’re thinking about something boring like _safety_ or _rules_.”  
  
He huffed an acquiescent laugh and pulled her hair into his fingers, “What do you want me to do with it?”  
  
“Braid it, worry boy,” she pulled a tablet from her backpack and tapped at the screen busily. He’d bought her a case for it that spoke more to his nature than hers: thick and durable and waterproof, but he’d spent hours drawing on it for her and from what he could tell that was the only reason the unreasonably expensive object had yet to be destroyed-- and for that he was thankful.  
  
“What are you doing now?” He asked, separating her hair with gentle fingers. “Did you bring a--” he caught the brush she cast over her shoulder haphazardly, fumbling it for a moment before managing to grip it by the bristles.  
  
“I’m look at internships for next summer,” she replied over her shoulder, chewing on her thumbnail.  
  
“Hanji summer just ended yesterday,” he wove her hair together, practiced at attending to her on the bus.  
  
“Are you doing a french braid?” She lifted her hand and felt the tight strands. “Wow you got better!”  
  
“I practiced on my mom while you were at camp,” he said with his tongue touching the corner of his mouth. He wasn’t sure why he bothered to bring up serious conversation topics while she was off on another one of her wild adventures in her head. Sometimes he wished he could be in them with her, just so she wouldn’t fall off a cliff in her own daydreams.  
  
“What clubs are you doing this year?” The question sounded more like a demand as her nails clicked against the glass screen resting on her bookbag, more interested in that than Moblit.  
  
“I was thinking about joining the Art Club if I have time, but other than that I don’t have much--” he stopped mid sentence, realizing what the question had really meant: “Science club.”  
  
“Aha!” She laughed, waggling a finger in the air. “There we go! That’s the correct answer, Moblit my boy.”  
  
“You’re goofy, did you spend too much time in the sun last month?” He chuckled, snapping her hair band into place. “There you go.”  
  
She reached back to squish at the thick braid, pulling it a little looser, “I’ve started reading The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle!”  
  
“You read that when we were 12.”  
  
“I’m reading it _again_ , old sport--”  
  
“You know no one actually says that…”  
  
“--And it’s simply the greatest book I’ve ever read! I miss sailing!” She sighed happily.  
  
“I bet Dad would let us take the boat out if you want?” He offered.  
  
“But it’s a motor boat! I want to go _sailing_ , Moblit!” She sighed, falling back against his chest. “Ah the sound of the sails rippling in the wind and the screeches of seagulls!”  
  
“Birdshit.”  
  
“Imagine finding a secret lagoon that pirates used to live in! Or better! What if we discovered a new fish species?”  
  
“Or contracted malaria!”  
  
Her mocked look of offense spread a grin onto his face before she turned her back to him again, “Anyway… you should ask your dad to go on the boat this weekend.”  
  
He snorted triumphantly, resting his head on the back of the seat and sinking down to dig his knees into the one in front of him. He’d woken up early to run and make it on time to Hanji’s house, leaving him exhausted.  
  
“You okay?” He felt her prying fingers pull an eye open, smiling softly at her question. “Did I wear you out?” Her voice softened just a little as she released his face, leaning back into the seat as well.  
  
“Never,” he chuckled.  
  
“You’re the best, Moblit,” she sighed happily before plugging his ear with an earbud and starting up a video on internal organs. _Definitely_ his favorite post-breakfast entertainment.

He knew better than to bring it up, closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep despite her choice of video. Nothing was better than a twenty-minute nap on the bus on the way to school. _Well nothing besides getting to stay home and not go to school at all._ He thought wryly.

“Sup loser?” A hand slapped his chest and he jolted awake with a smile, heavy footsteps passing up the aisle.  
  
“Mikey!” Hanji gasped and propped herself up on her knees as the football player sat behind them, swinging out a hand to grasp at his hair. “You cut all your hair off!”  
  
“And grew a beard,” Moblit sounded impressed.  
  
“Erwin dared me,” he scratched at the short hairs, wrinkling his nose. “What have you been up to? Last time I saw you you were on hour fifteen of a 48 hour marathon play session of WoW?” He grunted at Moblit, ignoring Hanji’s chatter with ease.  
  
“I passed out after the last pack of Redbull,” he dismissed. “Still had to get up and run five miles for soccer, though.”  
  
“Sucks to be you,” Moblit was expecting the bark of a laugh as his friend moved over to allow a freshman to sit next to him. “What do you have planned for Junior year?”  
  
“Get one step closer to getting the hell out of here,” Moblit said. “Lucky…”  
  
“Yep, only a year left. Kinda bittersweet, if you think about it? I have some good memories here.”  
  
“You’re going to college right, Mikey?” Hanji hung her arms over the back of the bus seat, limp as they hit a bump.  
  
“Hey! Sit facing forward!” The bus driver warned her, to little avail.  
  
“You’re going to get yelled at,” Moblit tugged her sleeve. “Can’t you wait until we get to school to talk?”  
  
“Mobster I think I’m going to get you a hat that says ‘Party Pooper’ on it,” she flopped back down and folded her arms.  
  
“Thank you,” he smiled pleasantly and closed his eyes again. _I wonder how long it’ll last._

 

* * *

 

For the record Moblit had to tell her to sit right five times. Once had even involved sweeping her knees with his forearm to force her back into her seat. Fortunately he’d managed to distract her with their course schedules for the duration of the ride, letting her mark what classes they had together, anything to keep her from getting thrown off the bus. _Again._  
  
He barely managed to snag her bag off her shoulder as she sprinted towards the junior hall, crooning her farewells to Mike’s back vanishing down the senior hall. Taking her bag was merely a precaution; mostly to keep her from mauling any unsuspecting underclassmen as she rocketed down the hall to embrace anyone and everyone she knew.  
  
“Levi!” She greeted a dark haired boy but refrained from slinging her arms around him in deference. “You’re looking tidy as ever.”  
  
“You still look like you haven’t showered in two days,” he dismissed. “Good morning, Moblit.”  
  
“Her hair’s clean, I had to braid it,” he greeted Levi with a lifted hand.  
  
“You’re a brave man Moblit Baner,” he bowed his head in feigned awe, picking up his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “I wouldn’t touch her hair with a ten foot pole.”  
  
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say you didn’t like good old fashioned body oil,” Hanji leaned on his shoulder.  
  
“When you don’t shower for a week that doesn’t count as good old fashioned body oil,” Mobilt said with a sigh.  
  
“Hey! That was years ago! I’m hygienic now!” She protested. “I even shave! Only because I don’t like the feeling of hairs rubbing together but -- the reason doesn’t matter!”  
  
“Nobody asked the reason,” Levi told her dryly. “Are you in the same homeroom with me?” He tapped Moblit’s schedule.  
  
“We are!” Hanji announced in replace of her sidekick’s voice.  
  
“I didn’t ask you,” Levi rolled his eyes but Moblit smiled anyway.  
  
“I have art first, I’ll see you guys later?” Moblit swung his bag over his shoulder, handing Hanji hers with some hesitation. “Try not to mow down any freshmen okay?”  
  
“No worries, Moburrito! This is gonna be a great year!” She saluted.

He wasn’t about to say he didn’t enjoy summer break. He loved summer break as much as the next person: he loved the freedom of long summer days and longer nights, but he loved the first day of school a little more. He loved the brightness of her smile, her excitement at learning new things, the way she blossomed with their friends. He loved the color of her freckles and the lighter shade of her hair from hours spent in the sun with her garden. He loved the way she lifted her finger to push her glasses up her nose. 

He was inescapably in love with his best friend. 

And she had no idea.

But this was his chance: the first day of a new year. His chance to change everything.


End file.
